Auditors of Quinn Insurance sued for €1bn

The joint administrators of Quinn Insurance Ltd are suing the firm’s former auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers for around €1bn over alleged negligent auditing of the company’s accounts over several years.

Any damages recovered in the case will be used to partly or fully repay the state-backed Insurance Compensation Fund the cost, which could reach €1.65bn, of meeting claims of Quinn Insurance Ltd (QIL) policy holders, the administrators said.

Some €1.1bn has been paid out of the fund to date and, because the fund had insufficient monies to meet the QIL claims, the Government has imposed a 2% levy on all non-life insurance policies here to meet the claims.